The Monastery of the Good Shepherd is as much as fortress as a religious institution. When the first Lord Abbot began to assemble his congregation of the faithful, Marquette University seemed a natural place to gather. A religious center that was also a center of learning, it provided housing and safety for the new Brothers and their flock. It has to be said, as well, that it most probably appealed to the Abbot as an echo of monastic life from a time in some ways similar to the post-Fall world. There was one important difference, however. Where monks of the middle ages looked to their feudal lords for protection from raiders and despoilers, the only thing the monks could expect from their 'lawful' government was as bad as those who attacked the earlier monasteries.The monks have taken it upon themselves to defend their flock not just spiritually, but physically as well. The campus itself is surrounded by walls constructed of wrecked automobiles and collapsed buildings. The monastery's land extends to the trench where I-43 once ran to the east, as it makes a good natural barrier against the Waltzer's depredations. There has been a continuous, low level war between the Brother's and the Governor's men for years, characterized by occasional skirmishes as Waltzer's test the Brother's resolve and find it as steely as their faith. Most of the bridges across the I-43 trench have been collapsed by the brothers, but one or two remain, heavily guarded, as a way to send scouts to keep track of the Waltzers, as well as to send traders to the market on the Lakefront.To the south, the Menominee river valley serves as another natural fortification, as does the Miller valley to the west. To the north the monastery's lands extend a short ways, bounded by outposts and watchtowers always vigilantly manned. The Monastery itself is characterized by growing plants, and cheerful workers. Everywhere sunlit and bare ground are found, the brothers and their flock have cultivated it as best they can to feed themselves. Buildings have been either knocked down in an aggressive campaign to create more space, or turned into dormitories and kitchens. The brother's themselves are centered around the Church of the Gesu, where they worship, and the library, where many of the Brother's ordinary labor to preserve and uncover knowledge from before the Fall. The Abbot himself resides in the Saint Joan of Arc Chapel, a small stone building in the center of the campus that in earlier days was shipped, brick by brick, from France, and rebuilt on Marquette's campus.
The Monastery itself is characterized by growing plants, and cheerful workers. Everywhere sunlit and bare ground are found, the brothers and their flock have cultivated it as best they can to feed themselves. Buildings have been either knocked down in an aggressive campaign to create more space, or turned into dormitories and kitchens.
The brother's themselves are centered around the Church of the Gesu, where they worship, and the library, where many of the Brother's ordinary labor to preserve and uncover knowledge from before the Fall.
The Abbot himself resides in the Saint Joan of Arc Chapel, a small stone building in the center of the campus that in earlier days was shipped, brick by brick, from France, and rebuilt on Marquette's campus.